Army 1st Lt. Ashley Miller, 24, is enrolled in the legendary school for combat engineers. / Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

by Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

by Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. â?? The air temperature was barely above freezing and snow clung to the banks of the lake when Army 1st Lt. Ashley Miller plunged into the inky waters.

Dragging packs weighing about 40 pounds each, Miller and other students from the Army's legendary Sapper Leader Course for combat engineers began swimming for the opposite shore. Instructors on jet skis buzzed around the swimmers, stirring up the placid waters to simulate the rough seas they might encounter in a combat mission.

Miller, 24, a slightly built West Point graduate, didn't stand out despite being the only woman among several dozen men struggling through one of the military's most physically demanding courses. For more than a decade, the Army has quietly allowed women to take this course, putting them through the same training as the men.

For the nation, the issue of allowing women into ground combat jobs, such as infantry, is a highly charged and emotional issue that riles politicians and revives well-worn arguments for and against a change. Not so here, far from the podiums and cable news shows, where small numbers of women have been proving themselves physically capable for years.

"Do you have what it takes? If you can prove that, regardless of gender, then it doesn't really matter," Miller said later as dusk descended and storm clouds gathered over the lake.

Through much of U.S. history, women have been exposed to combat - even more so in the last generation of warfare, in the likes of Iraq and Afghanistan. Indeed, the American casualty list is laced with the names of these fallen.

Until this year, they have been banned from ground combat jobs that require physical strength and endurance that test even the most robust combatant. In a historic shift that could open up hundreds of thousands of jobs to women, the Pentagon in January overturned its ban on women in ground combat jobs.

Since that order, the services have scrambled to develop physical standards that would apply to both genders. The Pentagon's action has brought scrutiny to this school for clues it may provide about integrating women into ground combat jobs.

For those skeptical of integration and how it might affect unit cohesion and effectiveness, the results might be surprising. The integration of women here caused barely a ripple, officers say.

"The answer ... is nothing happened with the course," said Army Brig. Gen. Peter DeLuca, commandant of the Army Engineer School.

"The fact that we didn't change the training standard is what has made it frankly so successful," he said. "It's accepted by everybody."

Burly instructors who have made no concessions to female students are among the biggest believers in equal opportunity, DeLuca said. They have learned to ignore gender as they watched women prove themselves under the toughest conditions.

"As long as there is not favoritism given to gender, it will work," said Master Sgt. Jerimiah Gan, the chief instructor.

"That's a sapper," Gan said, jabbing a finger toward Miller, who was leaning over her rucksack as she attempted to waterproof it in the required 10 minutes. "I don't see her as a female."

"Sapper," a military term with a centuries-old pedigree, is loosely described as small teams of combat engineers who can move through the toughest terrain to blow up obstacles or clear mines.

Though the sapper school's training of women has become a sort of social experiment, it wasn't designed to be. It was opened to women in 1999 because these soldiers were already allowed into the engineering field, and the Army simply concluded that all junior leaders - men and women - should be given an opportunity to attend the elite course.

In the ensuing 14 years, 55 women have graduated from the course out of 147 who have attended. Marine Capt. Katie Neff, 28, graduated No. 1 among all students in a class last summer.

Only a small number of women have volunteered for the school. Though their graduation rate started out lower, it's now roughly the same as men's: about 50%.

The small number of women who come here suggests women might not be clamoring to join combat arms fields. Miller said that though she's not interested in the infantry, she did seek out sapper school to become a better engineer platoon leader.

The class combines the physical challenges with course work on minefield clearing and demolition techniques. The idea is to create engineering teams able to keep up with front-line infantry units. Even so, it's viewed as a good test of what women can do.

"Any woman who tabs in sapper school can tab in Ranger School," Gan said, referring to graduation.

ONE STAGGERING TASK AT A TIME

The physical portion of the course is grueling and requires incredible willpower. Miller said she focuses only on the task in front of her. She and her partner made it across the lake and back â?? about 500 yards â?? well within the required 35 minutes. But the two struggled to lift their waterlogged packs over their heads, another requirement to pass this exercise.

The only concession to the icy waters was a wet suit worn under their camouflage uniforms.

"You have four minutes to get out of the lake," an instructor screamed. Their faces etched with pain and determination, Miller and her partner staggered out of the lake under the weight of the packs.

This class, which began in mid-February, started with two women. Two men and one woman dropped from the course in the early days.

The lake swim is one of many crucibles the students face in a dawn-to-dusk training day in the 28-day course. The students barely got to catch their breath and wolf down field rations around a smoky fire before they began receiving instruction in boat tactics. Soon they were on the water again, paddling across the lake in inflatable rubber rafts.

The next day they were up before dawn, doing "boat PT," which meant running while carrying a rubber boat weighing several hundred pounds over their heads.

Though this sapper school and other testing grounds could help shape the path for the Pentagon's transition, the military has several years to figure out how to implement the order to allow women into ground combat fields. Though women will be admitted to the new fields as standards are developed, the branches must have all pieces in place by January 2016.

The order has prompted the Army and Marine Corps, which are most directly affected, to launch a major review to determine what physical standards are required for ground combat specialties. The military hopes to create tests to screen applicants. The Marine Corps has said some fields may remain off-limits if there are not enough women who meet the physical standards.

As an experiment, the Marine Corps began allowing women last year to enroll in the Infantry Officer Course, even though women are not yet allowed into the infantry field. Two women enrolled but did not complete the course. Another two are likely to start this month.

Writing in the Marine Corps Gazette, a female Marine officer who served on two combat tours said the physical demands of infantry fighting were harmful to the health of women.

"I am confident that should the Marine Corps attempt to fully integrate women into the infantry, we as an institution are going to experience a colossal increase in crippling and career-ending medical conditions for females," Capt. Katie Petronio wrote.

Sgt. Maj. Robert Wells said he approved of the idea of opening up opportunities for women, but they should be aware of the long-term physical challenges once they qualify.

"Think about the strain on the body, let alone the psyche," said Wells, the senior enlisted soldier at Fort Leonard Wood. "We have problems with our male soldiers breaking down."

'A FIGHT ON THEIR HANDS'

Though the idea of introducing women into combat roles has been batted around for decades and successfully executed among some of America's closest allies, few believed this tectonic shift would occur without a fight.

And they would be right.

From claims of political correctness run amok, to questions about privacy issues to concerns about the impact of men and women in close quarters, the debate has found a new life with the Pentagon's announcement in January.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said he would wait until the Pentagon comes up with a specific plan for integrating women into combat arms fields, but he expressed concerns about all fields being opened to women. "If they do that, they're going to have a fight on their hands," Inhofe told C-SPAN recently.

Here at sapper school, the students and instructors seem to have moved past the debate.

Miller said early encounters with the men included some awkward moments.

"There are times when they don't want to say something because they don't want to offend me," Miller said of her fellow students.

She assured them she wasn't easily offended: "Very few things upset me."

Army Capt. Damian Krebsbach, 27, a West Point graduate attending the course, said some soldiers who haven't had a lot of experience training alongside women were wary initially when they saw that a woman shared the barracks and would go through the same training.

"All of a sudden, you show up to sapper school, and a woman is outrunning you," Krebsbach said. "It kind of pushes you a little bit."

Attitudes changed when the men saw she was treated no differently and could keep up just fine.

"She beats three-quarters of the men in the runs, and she's required to lift the same amount of weight as everyone else and walk the same distance," Krebsbach said. "I think their opinions have changed now."

In fact, the strongest proponents of keeping the same standards â?? even if it means only a small number qualify -- are women.

"It's critical that we do maintain the same standards," said Capt. Aston Armstrong, 26, a female officer who graduated from the course last year. "My tab is no different than any man's tab," she said, referring to the uniform patch that indicates a sapper school graduate.

STANDARDS, NOT AGENDAS

Senior Pentagon officials have said they will not lower physical standards as they open new fields to women. But some analysts and lawmakers worry that advocates might place pressure on the military to adjust standards if not enough women qualify for ground combat jobs.

"They're going to face extreme pressure to lower standards," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the services do need to be prepared to defend the standards.

"If we do decide that a particular standard is so high that a woman couldn't make it, the burden is now on the service to come back and explain to the secretary, why is it that high?" Dempsey said. "Does it really have to be that high? With the direct combat exclusion provision in place, we never had to have that conversation."

DeLuca said the military may face questions about standards, which is why it is critical that the military take the time to articulate what is required for each specialty.

"We want to be ready if we are challenged," DeLuca said.

Women want the senior leaders to hold fast if they do face pressure. They say they don't want the tab they earned to be cheapened by lowered standards.

"My fear is that this is going to become more of people trying to push an agenda," Armstrong said. "If they do open up more positions to women, I hope it is because they hope women are capable of meeting or exceeding the same standards the men do."

"I came to this school to get good training," Miller said.

"If they change that, would I want to be here as much?" she asked as a cold rain began to fall. "Would anyone want to be here as much?"

At graduation Friday, only 23 of the original 38 who started out earned the coveted sapper tab. Miller was not among them. Although she completed the entire course, she failed the patrolling exercise.

The patrolling phase is conducted over seven days during which students get almost no sleep, eat very little and are continually on their feet. It is more a test of presence of mind and leadership than physical strength.

The students are placed in charge of other students and are evaluated on their ability to lead under stressful conditions. Unlike some of the other events, If students don't pass patrolling, they can't graduate.

"I tried to be really easygoing," Miller said. "I learned that you can't really do that all the time."

The course is structured so most students find out only just before graduation whether they passed the course. In fact, 35 students of the 38 who started made it until the end.

Those who don't earn a tab are allowed to come back and try again if their units allow them. Miller didn't hesitate when asked whether she would return.